del

> Delete files and directories using globs

Similar to rimraf, but with a Promise API and support for multiple files and globbing. It also protects you against deleting the current working directory and above.

Install

``sh
npm install del
`

Usage

`js
import {deleteAsync} from 'del';

const deletedFilePaths = await deleteAsync(['temp/*.js', '!temp/unicorn.js']);
const deletedDirectoryPaths = await deleteAsync(['temp', 'public']);

console.log('Deleted files:\n', deletedFilePaths.join('\n'));
console.log('\n\n');
console.log('Deleted directories:\n', deletedDirectoryPaths.join('\n'));
`

Beware

The glob pattern * matches all children and the parent*.

So this won't work:

`js
deleteSync(['public/assets/**', '!public/assets/goat.png']);
`

You have to explicitly ignore the parent directories too:

`js
deleteSync(['public/assets/**', '!public/assets', '!public/assets/goat.png']);
`

To delete all subdirectories inside public/, you can do:

`js
deleteSync(['public/*/']);
`

Suggestions on how to improve this welcome!

API

Note that glob patterns can only contain forward-slashes, not backward-slashes. Windows file paths can use backward-slashes as long as the path does not contain any glob-like characters, otherwise use path.posix.join() instead of path.join().

$3

Returns Promise with the deleted paths.

$3

Returns string[] with the deleted paths.

#### patterns

Type: string | string[]

See the supported glob patterns.

- Pattern examples with expected matches
- Quick globbing pattern overview

#### options

Type: object

You can specify any of the globby options in addition to the below options. In contrast to the globby defaults, expandDirectories, onlyFiles, and followSymbolicLinks are false by default.

##### force

Type: boolean\
Default: false

Allow deleting the current working directory and outside.

##### dryRun

Type: boolean\
Default: false

See what would be deleted.

`js
import {deleteAsync} from 'del';

const deletedPaths = await deleteAsync(['temp/*.js'], {dryRun: true});

console.log('Files and directories that would be deleted:\n', deletedPaths.join('\n'));
`

##### dot

Type: boolean\
Default: false

Allow patterns to match files/folders that start with a period (.).

This option is passed through to fast-glob.

Note that an explicit dot in a portion of the pattern will always match dot files.

Example

`
directory/
├── .editorconfig
└── package.json
`

`js
import {deleteSync} from 'del';

deleteSync('*', {dot: false});
//=> ['package.json']
deleteSync('*', {dot: true});
//=> ['.editorconfig', 'package.json']
`

##### concurrency

Type: number\
Default: Infinity\
Minimum: 1

Concurrency limit.

##### onProgress

Type: (progress: ProgressData) => void

Called after each file or directory is deleted.

`js
import {deleteAsync} from 'del';

await deleteAsync(patterns, {
onProgress: progress => {
// …
}});
`

###### ProgressData

`js
{
totalCount: number,
deletedCount: number,
percent: number,
path?: string
}
`

- percent is a value between 0 and 1
- path` is the absolute path of the deleted file or directory. It will not be present if nothing was deleted.

CLI

See del-cli for a CLI for this module and trash-cli for a safe version that is suitable for running by hand.

Related

- make-dir - Make a directory and its parents if needed
- globby - User-friendly glob matching